Truth Told
by Bralt
Summary: Spoilers for book 9. Halt only gives details of missions to Crowley but there is a particular detail of their mission that has to be explained to a certain diplomat. Rated T for...mush...


**Disclaimer: I do not own Ranger's Apprentice or any of its characters**

**Okay so I just read Halt's Peril and realized JF didn't explain where Halt told Pauline about what happened and that seems pretty important. So here it is and to JustaBunchaHOOPLA, please do not kill me. The mush worked into my system but I think it's over as I am writing a funny fic after this**

Halt shifted in his seat at the head table. It was a nice feast, everybody was talking and having a jolly time but something was nagging at him whenever he looked to his wife on his left. And that was a lot. He smiled at Will who was talking animatedly to Alyss but the smile faded as he realized it was only because of Will that he sat here this moment. He looked to Pauline for the thousandth time that night but this time he had sadness in his eyes; she didn't know what had happened at the Drowned Forest yet and he really didn't want to tell her but he had to he knew. Pauline raised an eyebrow at him and he made up his mind. He stood quietly and motioned for her to follow him as he made his way out of the castle to the dark courtyard. It was a full moon and the luminous light magnified the beauty of her. Halt stood gazing at the stars for a while before he made any move to talk.

"I need to tell you something," he said a bit quiet. Pauline looked at him and he lowered his gaze from the dark sky to her. Something told her she wouldn't like what he had to say but she needed to hear it. She stood quietly waiting for him to continue. "When we were tracking Tennyson through Picta we passed through the Drowned Forest," Halt continued. Pauline was curious as to where this was going. She had heard tidbits of the forest but knew nothing too much about the place. "We tried to kill the Genovesans there." Halt noticed the shiver that ran down his wife as he mentioned the assassins. "I made a plan to distract them while Will looped around and came up behind them. It went well, I mean we killed one of them but I got a little…scratched," Halt said. He didn't want to continue yet so he looked to the stars once more.

"A little scratched?" Pauline asked quietly but sternly. She had known Halt long enough to know it had been more than that. Halt absently rubbed his arm where the poisoned crossbow bolt had skimmed him.

"The scratch itself wasn't life threatening but the coward dipped the tip of the bolt in poison." Halt felt Pauline's worried look on him. "I'm fine now," he assured her quickly and part of her worry disappeared. "I don't remember too much except for some brief moments where I swore I was living in the past. I do remember being close to death though." Halt felt her worm her hand into his and was regretting what he was telling her. It was obviously making her somewhat upset. "Will rode day and night to fetch Malcolm; he saved my life," Halt said. It wasn't a detailed explanation of what had happened but it got the guilt of not telling her off his chest. "If not for Will and Horace I'd be dead right now."

Pauline stood by his side holding his hand and not knowing what to do. She had a feeling there was a little bit more to the details than that but they could be spoken about later. She tore her gaze away from the stars to look at the slight man beside her. He was the love of her life and just knowing that he had been incredibly close to death terrified her. Life without him would be no life at all. There would be other suitors for her of course but she wouldn't love them like she loved him. He looked back to her and gave a faint smile.

"I remember one more thing as well," Halt said in a fairly embarrassed voice. Pauline smiled at him, an encouraging gesture for him to continue. "During one period when I was somewhat lucid state I thought Horace was Crowley." Horace had told Halt of this one night on their return journey while Will was asleep and he had also mentioned what he had asked Crowley to tell Pauline. "I told who I assumed to be Crowley about how I wouldn't let him down but I also asked him to tell you something. Now that I think of it, I think I'll tell you myself; Crowley wouldn't be able to do it with a straight face. And it might of meant less if you heard it when I was dead," Halt said the word casually but it really felt like tar on his tongue.

"Don't say that," Pauline chastised lightly. Knowing he had been close to death was bad enough but him making lightly of it was worse.

"It's true. I was nearly dead," Halt said more to get over it himself. He would never be accustomed to it but he knew he had to get over it.

"You're not dead so there's no point in saying you were near it," Pauline said a little sterner. Halt sighed and realized it would be better not to push it farther right now.

"Either way I wanted to tell you something and it will sound better with me breathing next to you and not lying in a grave." He caught her eyes with his and placed his other hand in hers. "I actually told him to forget about it because I believe you already know this but I want to make sure." Halt took a deep breath, he wasn't used to this expressing feelings. "I wanted you to know that there has never been anybody but you for me. Nobody amounts up to what you mean to me," he said quietly. Pauline smiled sweetly at him.

"And there has never been anybody else for me," she said but Halt was shaking his head.

"Maybe nobody that means anything to you but there has always been people there that want you. I just got lucky," Halt said and it was Pauline's turn to shake her head.

"No, they never had the slightest chance against you. It wasn't luck," she said quietly as he leaned in to kiss her. They stood for a while like they had earlier when he had just come back to the castle and Halt dreaded the moment when he realized that they had been away from the feast to long.

"Isn't that better coming from an alive me than Crowley?" Halt asked with some humor. Pauline hit him softly.

"Don't even consider what would have happened if you died. If you had died I would have raised you from the dead and killed you again for leaving me," she answered as they separated. Halt gave her one of his genuine smiles as he realized how lucky he was to be here and not lying in a hole in the ground. "Now let's get back to the feast before Alyss and Will start fretting," she said. Halt nodded and they made their way back to the castle hand in hand.

**Please review, it makes me feel all nice and tingly inside**


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